VeganMoFo Day 10: Pan-Fried Chickpeas, Mushrooms, and Broccoli

Last night I was in the mood for some comfort food. I was going to make the chili my mom has been making for years. I had most of the ingredients on hand already, so I just stopped by Trader Joe’s to pick up the missing ingredients. As luck would have it, I left my shopping list at work and got distracted by Trader Joe’s new nacho-seasoned kale chips. Once I got home and realized my mistake, I was too hungry to run out again, so I created this. This is one time I’m glad I made a mistake.

Pan-Fried Chickpeas, Mushrooms, and Broccoli

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

8-10 cloves of garlic, minced

8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced

1 (15 oz) can or 1½ cups chickpeas

1 bunch of broccoli, cut into small florets (about 3 cups)

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons za'atar spice blend

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

In a large pan over medium-high heat, cook the onion with the olive oil until the onion softens. Add the garlic and mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are tender and have released much of their moisture. Add the rest of the ingredients and turn the heat up to high. Cook everything, stirring and mixing often, 10-15 minutes, until the chickpeas become golden brown and the broccoli is tender.

VeganMoFo Day 9: Cilantro-Lime Rice and beans

Okay so the pictures might not be so pretty, but the food was delicious! The rice was the Cilantro-Lime Rice recipe form Viva Vegan. And then the beans are an adaptation of a recipe I had written down months ago (I don't remember the original source of that recipe).

Cilantro-Lime Rice 
 
1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth or water
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoon lime zest
1/2 teaspoon salt (only if you're using water)
Freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, lightly packed
1 green onion, green part only, sliced very thinly

1. In a heavy pot, combine the rice, vegetable stock, olive oil, lime juice and zest, salt (if using), and pepper to taste. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer, and cover the pot. Cook for 20 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice grains are tender.
2. Remove from the heat and sprinkle the rice with the cilantro and green onion. Fluff the rice, working in the chopping herbs. Serve immediately.

Mexican Black Beans

4 Jalapeños, roasted (see note)

 1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped small

4 garlic cloves

2 teaspoons cumin

2 (15-oz) cans or 3 cups black beans

1 cup vegetable broth

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped and loosely packed

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat and add onion. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cumin and cook until the garlic turns golden. Add black beans and broth. Simmer until the liquid reduces and beans start to break up a little.. Stir in cilantro and cook for just another minute.

Note: if you have a toaster oven, heat it to 350°F and roast the jalapeños 5 minutes (this time can vary a lot since all toaster ovens have different intensity levels) or until the skins blister and start to turn black. If you don’t have a toaster oven it seems silly to heat a full-sized oven for just a few jalapeños, so try to roast them in advance next time you have the oven on. Then you can just stick them in a container for a few days until you’re ready to use them. 

VeganMoFo Day 8: Quiche Me

There are certain recipes that I just have to make in certain seasons. Last year was the first time I made the Mushroom, White Bean, and Leek Pie from Vegan Brunch. I knew immediately that it was going to be a fall staple.

It's made up of mostly mushrooms, beans, leeks, and walnuts. And since I love pie crust so much, I up the crust-to-filling ratio and split the filling up between to shallow pie crusts. So good.

VeganMoFo Day 7: Cookies!

Today, I'm taking a break from my bean theme to give you cookies.

Isa recently posted these snickerdoodles on the PPK blog. They sounded absolutely wonderful, so I just had to make them. After mixing all the wet ingredients together, I realized I didn't have some of the spices needed for the topping. The autumnal feel of the chai spices is what made this recipe so enticing. After a few moments of panic, I decided I'd sub out for some other fabulous fall-tasting spices. Option 1: pumpkin pie spice. Option 2: speculoos spice, that I had mixed together a few months ago when I made speculoos frosting for cupcakes. Both spice blends are amazing, so I made some of each and both were FANTASTIC. Go make these! Here is Isa's recipe, with my changes noted:

Spiced Snickerdoodles 

For the topping:

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger *

3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom*

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch cloves*

*Replace these ingredients with a generous teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice or speculoos spice mix

For the cookies:

1/2 cup canola oil

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

3 tablespoons non-dairy milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the topping ingredients together on a dinner plate. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, use a fork to vigorously mix together oil, sugar, syrup, and milk. Mix for at least a minute, until it resembles applesauce. Then mix in vanilla.

Sift in remaining ingredients, stirring as you add them. Once all ingredients are added mix until you’ve got a pliable dough. Get in there with your hands to mix, it’s the easiest way to get the dough to come together.

With clean, moist hands, roll dough into walnut sized balls. Pat into the sugar topping to flatten into roughly 2 inch discs. Transfer to baking sheet, sugar side up, at least 2 inches apart (they do spread a little). This should be easy as the the bottom of the cookies should just stick to your fingers so you can just flip them over onto the baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, they should be a bit browned on the bottoms. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Guest cat model, Sparkle, will attack anyone who tries to take her cookies.

VeganMoFo Day 6: Puerto Rican Rice and Beans

I'm Puerto Rican, so I'm sure my mom would disown me if I didn't include Puerto Rican style beans with rice in my blog. This is pretty much what I grew up on. I posted about the this a couple of years ago here, but it bears repeating. Now, I'm sure every family has a different way of making it, but this is the way my family does it.

Puerto Rican Style Beans 
1 15-oz can or 1 1/2 cups pink beans
1 Tbsp Recaito (scroll to the bottom of my original post for more info)
4 oz tomato sauce
1 packet sazón (see note below)
handful of pimento-stuffed green olives (optional)
pinch of oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the recaito with the tomato sauce for 2 or 3 minutes. Add beans, olives, oregano, salt and pepper and enough water to cover the beans. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally until the liquid reduces a bit and everything is hot and the flavors are well combined. Serve over rice.

i can has?

There's another way Puerto Ricans love to eat rice and beans: mixed together and cooked in the same pot so that the rice is yellow. This version often has pieces of pork in it, but it's equally as delicious without . 

Yellow Rice with Beans
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp Recaito (see the post I linked to above)
1 cup tomato sauce
1 packet sazón (see note below)
a few pinches of salt and pepper
a handful of olives or diced bell pepper (optional)
1 (15-oz) can red beans, drained
2 cups rice

In a large pot, heat the olive oil and recaito over medium-high heat. Add tomato sauce and sazon, salt, pepper, and olives and cook for a minute. Mix in the beans and rice. Add enough water so that it's about 1 inch above the rice. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to low. Let simmer for 30 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice is cooked. The beans will have floated to the top, so just mix them in before serving.

Note: Sazon is found in most supermarkets, with the spanish foods. It's usued mostly for color but it has other spices too. It does have MSG, so if you avoid foods with MSG, you can make your own blend of salt, garlic, cumin, coriander, and saffron. Or just leave it out completely.